U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as traders awaited the start of the corporate earnings season. Market-watchers expect the quarter's results could include many surprises because of events like Superstorm Sandy, the presidential election, and the narrowly avoided "fiscal cliff."

Major League Baseball's worldwide spread is facing slow going in China and Africa. But America's favorite pastime is working hard to find friends in both areas, starting with footholds in Taiwan and South Africa. MLB is clearly keeping its eye on the ball overseas.

Manufacturing output jumped in China and India in October, breaking with the rest of Asia.
China%u2019s official Purchasing Managers Index gained to 54.7 in October, from 53.8 a month earlier, The Wall Street Journal said. A reading above 50 signals expansion and a reading under 50 means output contracted.

American International Group (AIG) may sell two Japanese life-insurance units to Prudential Financial Inc. (PRU) for a total of as much as $5 billion, The Wall Street Journal said.
The agreement is currently "a few days away" from being ready, The Wall Street Journal said without naming its sources.

Regulators in Taiwan blocked the proposed $2.15 billion sale of AIG%u2019s (AIG) Taiwan life insurance business to a Hong Kong-based consortium.
AIG struck a deal in October to sell the Nan Shan unit to China Strategic Holdings and Primus Financial Holdings, the Financial Times reported. Regulators initially accepted the deal, then requested more information from the consortium, as well as assurance from Nan Shan.

Foxconn Technology Group will hire as many as 400,000 new workers in China in the coming year. The company, which was rocked by a string of employee suicides earlier this year, also plans to build factories closer workers%u2019 homes.
The Taiwanese company, which makes products including the Apple iPhone, aims to expand to inland provinces Henan and Sichuan because that%u2019s "what the new generation of workers wants," Louis Woo, special assistant to the chief executive officer, told Bloomberg News.

After the $6.4 billion U.S. arms sale to Taiwan in January, some Chinese military members have advocated retaliating by dumping some of China's $755 billion in U.S. Treasury bond holdings. But such a move would seriously hurt China, too. Is such talk mere saber-rattling?